Opening night at Yoshi's on November 27, 2007 | Photograph by Mina Pahlevan

ON ANY GIVEN NIGHT, Fillmore Street south of Geary is buzzing with street life. Stylish patrons make their way to 1300 on Fillmore for cocktails and dinner, or line up outside State Bird Provisions hoping for a coveted seat at what Bon Appetit magazine anointed as the best new restaurant in the country. Concertgoers head to the Fillmore Auditorium and Yoshi’s. Around the corner at Fat Angel and Social Study, a youthful clientele talks over drinks and snacks.

Five years after the opening of the cornerstone Fillmore Heritage Center in November 2007, lower Fillmore is finally getting its groove back.

“We’re bullish on the Fillmore,” says Jason Kirmse, one of the owners of the Fat Angel wine bar, who hopes to open another spot nearby.
Decades earlier, the Fillmore was the center of live music on the west coast — the “Harlem of the West” — with jazz joints such as the Primalon Ballroom and Jimbo’s Bop City lining the streets. Then came redevelopment, which razed 60 blocks in the historic Western Addition, and with it the cultural fabric of the neighborhood.

“In 2004, the neighborhood was still nearly a ghost town, with long stretches of empty storefronts and parking lots,” says longtime resident Gunther Bahrs.

Now that has mostly changed.

At the corner of Fillmore and Eddy — for decades an empty lot — the city finally stepped in and put up the funding to build the $74 million Fillmore Heritage project, which included 80 condos, Yoshi’s, 1300 on Fillmore and the Lush Life Gallery. It was a wager that if the restaurants and condos were successful, they would pave the way for others to join them.

The ground floor tenants — chosen for their jazz roots and the pedigree of their chefs — opened to rave reviews.

“We believed in our hearts the Fillmore would support an upscale, fine dining establishment in a neighborhood that was still trying to find its voice,” says Monetta White, who owns 1300 on Fillmore with her husband, award-winning executive chef David Lawrence. “If anyone was going to do it, it would be us.”
White’s deep ties to the neighborhood, where she lived as a child, were a pull for her. She and Lawrence not only opened a business in the neighborhoood, but moved there as well.

Even with additional backing from the city, 1300 and Yoshi’s struggled to pull in diners and music lovers, a task made more difficult by a deepening recession.

“When the recession hit, I’d lie if I didn’t admit it was a challenge,” says White. “We had to get creative to keep people coming back. But some of our best ideas came from our need to fill seats, including our Sunday gospel brunch, winemaker dinners, gumbo jams and live music nights.”

Kaz Kajimura, owner of Yoshi’s, also had to tweak his original business plan.
“We still believe jazz is the backbone of Yoshi’s brand,” he says. “But with the changing taste in music among the young people in the Bay Area, Yoshi’s music booking is also changing rapidly. Interspersed between the jazz names you now see R&B, fusion, pop, country, soul, world music, hip hop, you name it.”
He adds: “This is going to be the face of the new Yoshi’s, where people of different musical tastes gather for a night of good food and good music.”

A number of new businesses have opened in recent months on the stretch of Fillmore south of Geary. And with the economy gradually gaining strength, some of the more established venues are holding their own, including Rasselas, Sheba Piano Lounge, Gussie’s Chicken and Waffles and Bruno’s Pizzeria.

The jazz district, once attractive primarily to fast-food chains, has begun to attract other restaurants and bars. New casual spots include Holy Dog and Prime Dip sandwiches. In the coming months, Hapa Ramen is to open next door to State Bird Provisions, and Brenda’s Original Po’ Boy is expected next spring.

The neighborhood’s residential anchor, the Fillmore Center, has rebuilt its plaza and gardens, and now has low vacancy rates. It hosts the weekly Fillmore Farmers Market on Saturday mornings, but much of its commercial space has remained empty, even as new businesses were eyeing the area. Finally in September, San Francisco Gymnastics opened in some of the center’s empty storefronts.

Monetta White, who was appointed to the San Francisco Small Business Commission earlier this year partly in recognition of her championship of the jazz district, remains an enthusiastic booster of the neighborhood.

“The more small businesses we can entice to join our growing restaurant and entertainment hub, the better,” she says. “Through the ups and downs of the recession it’s been challenging, but now the future is looking bright for the lower Fillmore. But as much progress as we’ve made, there’s still so much room for growth in the next decade.”

Kaz Kajimura of Yoshi’s is measured in his assessment of the area’s progress.

“While Fillmore has made a significant leap forward as a good night out in recent years, it still has a long way to go compared to such areas as South of Market,” he says. “What we are lacking is a diversity of truly attractive establishments strong enough to draw people into this neighborhood.”

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STREET TALK

TWO TOP TOQUES AT FILLMORE & PINE

He’s not ready just yet to serve up the new name or the food concept planned for the now-shuttered and butcher-papered space on the northwest corner of Pine and Fillmore. But John Litz, who jettisoned the old Thai Stick sign last month, just introduced his partners in the venture he’s set to establish there: the top toque team of Sayat and Laura Ozyilmaz.

Between them, the two chefs have cooked at five of the 50 world’s best restaurants, according to the respected San Pellegrino list for 2018, including: 111 Madison Park and Le Bernardin in Manhattan, Blue Hill at Stone Barn in Tarrytown, N.Y., Murgaritz in San Sebastian, Spain, and San Francisco’s own Saison. All are either Michelin two or three star rated. Currently the duo are owner-chefs of Istanbul Modern SF, a pop-up restaurant on Russian Hill.

It seems fitting that the former shoe repair shop at 2448 Fillmore has been reborn as a shoe store. But while it offers ballet flats, as many other shops do, Rothy’s is not like the rest. Its flats are made in China from recycled plastic water bottles.

“Look good in your Rothy’s and feel good about your Rothy’s,” boasts the online company, which now has its first brick-and-mortar store.

THREE NEW SPOTS OPEN IN THE LOWER FILLMORE

The craft grocer Merchant Roots is now open at 1365 Fillmore, offering gourmet packaged items, prepared food and dinner three nights each week.

The LoMo got another notable new restaurant when the pop-up RTB Fillmore reopened in April at 1552 Fillmore as Avery. It offers tasting menus at $89, $189 and $289, with wine or sake pairings.

A few blocks south at 1521 Eddy, the Fillmore Social Club is open and serving up Korean cuisine in what once was Gussie’s Chicken & Waffles.

COMING TO FILLMORE: WINE WITH VERVE

The former Gimme Shoes shop at 2358 Fillmore — in recent months a series of pop-ups — now has its city approvals to be transformed into Verve, a wine store also offering tastings and other events.

Verve already has a similar shop in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, where it offers “a curated selection of global greatest hits.”

LET US COUNT OUR MICHELIN STARS

How fortunate are we to live in this neighborhood? The new Michelin guide offers a clue.

• Three Fillmore restaurants got a star: SPQR, the Progress and State Bird Provisions, plus Octavia at Octavia and Bush and Spruce on Sacramento.

• At 3127 Fillmore, Atelier Crenn got two stars.

• And we can still claim Quince, now all beautifully grown up in Jackson Square, which got a full set of three stars, and first planted its roots where Octavia is now.

That’s not all: Dosa and Sociale are on the Bib Gourmands list of restaurants with “exceptionally good food at moderate prices.” (And so is Quince’s handsome brother, Cotogna.)